It’s always great to find content that is genuinely entertaining and of particular interest. This is content that is serving its purpose. The video is an owned media digital asset strategically created in conjunction with several brands, among them Embassy Suites Hotels, SPIN, & SXSW.

As a fan of the Brooklyn-based, St. Lucia, I was browsing some live recordings and came across “September”. It took place during SXSW, but was actually recorded inside Embassy Suites Downtown Austin & produced by SPIN. The YouTube account is the official account of Embassy Suites Hotels.

This is a great example of content marketing. It is serving its purpose as original content with most definitely a positive ROI.

From the brand’s perspective, it is driving targeted impressions to an accurate target audience. There probably was a bunch of clicks coming through to SPIN from this video of interested consumers searching for more content. From Embassy Suites’ perspective, the content serves as a unique video asset that will gain views & send traffic to Embassy Suites. Random? Not really, there is a lodging component to almost everything. Because of the demographic, a significant number of viewers will likely stay in a hotel. Embassy Suites is now on their radar because they hold concerts for some of their favorite bands in the actual rooms.

[nzs_heading heading=”2″] No Annotations? [/nzs_heading]

It is interesting to note that there are no YouTube annotations (a hyperlinked text or graphic within the video). This is likely the case for two reasons: branding or lack of strategy. These are strategic links links that send more traffic to a site.

From the consumer’s perspective, this YouTube video is exactly what they wanted (for the most part). If you were searching for a live version of “Septemer”, you would likely enjoy this. The consumers are then coming across these brands, perhaps for the first time, in a positive environment. An ideal situation compared to consumer frustration when something annoying can happen; irrelevant banner ads and pop-ups.

[nzs_heading heading=”2″]Great Content=Unlimited Links![/nzs_heading]

Bottomline, this content passes two important questions that should always be asked when creating content for a brand (along with many others). The content is entertaining and of particular interest. Live music is usually entertaining and the interest involves aspects of all parties; St. Lucia is a rising band, SXSW is a major festival, SPIN is a popular webzine.

Last but not least, when your content is REALLY GOOD, you can get mentions like the blog you’re currently reading.